1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improved floor structures for non-recovery coke ovens (coke ovens in which evolved gases and volatiles are not recovered but, rather, are burned) and, more particularly, to a floor structure comprising a single layer of specially designed brick, preferably three in number, comprising two end trunnion bricks and a center bridge brick, each with interlocking joints, and wherein the bricks have a flat top surface and a curved surface on the lower surface of the center bridge brick and on a part of the lower surface of each of the trunnion bricks and forming a load-supporting arch.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Two designs of coke oven floor construction currently are used in this industry. Each comprises a composite floor made of multiple elements.
One such prior art construction, shown in FIG. 2, uses a composite of three elements for each coke oven sole flue and including (1) a row of bricks having the collective lower surfaces thereof in the form of an arch and fixed in place by two end skew back bricks, (2) a dense castable refractory material filling in the valleys of the low points of the arches and (3) a flat floor of flat bricks laid on top of the castable refractory.
The other, less complicated, such prior art construction is shown in FIG. 3 and comprises two floor elements for each sole flue, (1) an arch and skew back brick arrangement as used in the first design and (2) specially shaped bricks conforming, on their lower surfaces to the top of the arch and, on their top surfaces, presenting a flat floor construction.
Such prior art coke oven floor designs have three major disavantages. First, they are inherently thick, adding weight (and cost) to the floor; second, each refractory component element has its own expansion characteristics, with the result that, during heat-up of the oven, gaps will form between each different component and act as a dead air space retarding heat transfer, and third, the use of multiple components, each with its own heat conductivity characteristics, creates a lack of homogeneous construction that defies proper thermal modeling and complicates floor installation.
Interlocking brick also are known to the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,936,987 and 4,297,816 show interlocking bricks for building construction and having grooves and interlocking pins. For the same purpose, U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,674 discloses a ring and groove interlocking brick construction. The use of a tongue and groove design is known in many fields of the prior art, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,540 relates to the construction of flue walls of a ring furnace with bricks having a tongue and groove design.